Pierre Marc Gaston de Lévis, Duke of Lévis
French politician (1764-1830)
Pierre-Marc-Gaston de Lévis, 2nd Duke of Lévis (1764 – 15 February 1830), peer of France, was a French politician, aphorist, and soldier. At the French Revolution he was a deputy of the National Constituent Assembly. He published several books and was a member of the Académie française.
Birth and origins
Pierre Marc Gaston was born in Paris on 7 March 1764, the only son of Francis de Gaston and his wife Gabrielle Augustine Michel de Tharon.
His father was then styled chevalier de Lévis and part of the cadet Ajac branch of the House of Lévis. He had retired from the French army at the end of the Seven Years' War (1756–1763) with the rank of lieutenant-général. He was appointed governor of Artois in 1765. In 1783 he would be made marshal of France and in 1785 created the 1st Duke of Lévis.
His mother was a daughter of Gabriel Michel de Tharon, who was involved in the Nantes slave trade and director of the French East India Company 1749–1764.
Ancien regime
Gaston de Lévis entered the Royal Artillery School in Douai at the age of 13, and became second lieutenant in 1779.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Pierre Marc Gaston de Lévis, Duke of Lévis” as french politician (1764-1830). Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the people & ideas register because the source frames it as french politician (1764-1830). Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Chronology provides the most reliable spine for this subject; interpretation should follow only after identities and dates are secure. The source revision retrieved here is dated May 5, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q984608. VIAF identifies the subject as 2495372. The Library of Congress control number is n87933859. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1764, 1830, 1756 and 1763.
Public reputation and documentary evidence do not always develop together; absence from a summary is not evidence of historical absence. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.
- Establishing names and roles
- Building a first chronology
- Locating cited institutions
Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Pierre Marc Gaston de Lévis, Duke of Lévis”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Pierre Marc Gaston de Lévis, Duke of Lévis primary sources, Pierre Marc Gaston de Lévis, Duke of Lévis archive and Pierre research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Pierre Marc Gaston de Lévis, Duke of Lévis”?
- Which claims depend on a single source or contested interpretation?
- Which primary records establish identity, chronology and institutional ties?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Pierre Marc Gaston de Lévis, Duke of Lévis” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.